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 'Ryan Express' Big-time player has small-town Texas roots
Posted: Monday July 26, 1999 08:24 PM
By Paul Crane, CNN/SI ALVIN, Texas -- When leaving Houston to the south on Texas State Highway 288, it doesn't take long to realize this is Nolan Ryan country. Alvin, Texas is where Ryan grew up and still lives, and there are constant reminders everywhere. From city hall to Alvin High School. Ryan, now 52, owns a bank, and is actively involved in the new Nolan Ryan Center which includes his own "hall of fame." Inside, a visitor can follow Ryan's baseball career in the form of momento's and artifacts including uniforms and other equipment from his many years on and off the field. But it is one particular item from his childhood that he fondly remembers, "Well this is one of my favorite items on display here and it's been the last of six kids always had, hand me down stuff," he says pointing to his first baseball glove enclosed in a glass. "And that's the first item I can remember as a kid getting to go and pick out what I wanted." And what Ryan wanted was a piece of equipment that wouldn't ordinarily be the first pick of most young ball players. "I picked out the old style glove because there were the new styles ones out, but I picked the old one out because on the baseball cards, that was the kind the old major leaguers had so I thought that was the glove to use," he said. "And I used that glove all the way through Little League." By the time Ryan got to high school, he threw extremely hard, but was very wild, and he remembers one game in particular. "The first guy I hit in the arm and broke his arm," he remembers. "The next guy I hit in the head and split his helmet, and the third guy went down to the third base coach and begged not to hit and I don't blame him. That was a reflection of how wild I was." Despite Ryan's control problems, Mets' scout Red Murph was one who saw undeniable big league talent, and ultimately signed the young Texan to his first pro contract. "One of the things I find interesting in here is the scouting report that Red Murph did on me the first report that he ever turned in to the New York Mets," Ryan said looking at the framed report hanging on a wall. In part Murph wrote of Ryan: "This junior has the best arm I have ever seen in my life. This kid Ryan throws much harder than Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds, and Turk Ferel of the Houston Astros." "[This] was quite a compliment because those were two of the hardest throwers in the game at that time," Ryan says. Ryan had a cup of coffee with the Mets in 1966 appearing in just a pair of games in which he pitched only three innings. But was up to stay in 1968, and one year later made his only World Series appearance. Ryan heads to the Hall of Fame without a World Series win but he did pick up a World Series save. "I came in of relief and saved the third game for Gary Gentry and I really wasn't a relief pitcher," Ryan said. The Mets traded Ryan to the California Angels after the 1971 season, part of a deal to acquire Jim Fregosi. Eight years in Anaheim, and the trip to Cooperstown was underway.
"Well my Angel years, I really feel like is the foundation of my baseball career because when I was traded to the Angels, I went out there and then in three years I pitched right at one-thousand innings and some really neat things," he says. "[In] about a three-year period, I pitched four no-hitters and so I think that's where I started to establish myself as a power pitcher." Then in 1980, Ryan had the opportunity to virtually come "home" by playing for the Houston Astros. "Well with Houston, I came home," he said. "It was very beneficial to myself and the family because it gave us nine years of maintaining one household. And living at home and pitching with a team that was very competitive. Probably as good a group of guys that I've ever played with." One particular piece of memorabilia on display in Ryan's hall of fame is an old Astros uniform that had various shades of red and orange. For some people, players included, they were an eyeful. "Well let me tell you about that uniform," Ryan says with a smile. "When I first put on that uniform, I thought it was the worst thing I've ever seen on a major league field. And before they did away with it, I used to start thinking that uniform looked pretty good. I'm glad I don't have to wear it any longer." After nine years in Houston, and 22 in the major leagues, the Astros let Ryan sign with the Texas rangers in 1989. What was supposed to be a one-season swan song became a five-year love affair which will last forever in baseball's Hall of Fame. "I'm going to go in as a Texas Ranger," said Ryan. "I feel the five years I was with the Rangers brought my career to another level. It was at the end of my career. And some really neat things happened there." Some of those "neat" things included his 5,000th and 6,000th career strikeouts, his 300th win and just as impressive, his sixth and seventh no-hitters. Through it all there has been one constant for Ryan. His wife Ruth. Recently they celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary continuing a love affair which began at Alvin High School. "Being here at home where we grew up, Nolan can come and go and just virtually unnoticed," Ruth says. "Nobody makes a big deal about it if we go out to lunch or something here and we work here. So I like that. We are just very comfortable." And of the man who is her husband, Ruth Ryan remembers the way he has carried himself throughout his professional career. "I think I'm just the most proud of the way he has handled fame period. I think you see so many things in professional sports. And I have always been so proud of him and the way he handles himself."
After Ryan became baseball's first million-dollar a year player when he signed with the Astros following the 1979 season, he found people in Alvin started treating him differently. That did not sit well with Ryan, who remains the same man he's always been. A small-town guy who just happens to be one of the biggest stars baseball has ever seen.
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